Mass Digitization

Since 2005, UC libraries have digitized millions of books from their collections through participation in mass digitization projects with Google and Internet Archive.
As of early 2019, eight of ten UC campuses and both Regional Library Facilities have participated in these system-wide mass digitization efforts.

The mass digitization of UC library collections gives students, faculty, researchers, and the public expanded access to knowledge, new forms of discovery, and new fields of academic inquiry.

Open new fields of academic inquiry: Mass digitization enables scholars to trace the evolution of ideas and perform other sophisticated textual analysis by making volumes full-text searchable by computer, thus supporting new forms of scholarship.

Fulfill our public service mission: Mass digitization allows public access to works in the public domain, these include many classic works of literature as well as more unique items such as early histories of the settlement of California and the West.

UC’s current goal is to digitize as much of UC’s public domain content as possible to give UC students, researchers, and the public access to as many library volumes as possible.

Mass Digitization Team's Function and Focus

CDL’s Mass Digitization team supports UC's mass digitization projects by providing project planning, coordination, and technical leadership. We provide support and guidance for the deposit of mass digitized volumes into the HathiTrust Digital Library.
We are also expanding access to born digital content by supporting collaborative web archiving projects.

Our work encompasses a broad spectrum of activities and responsibilities. The Mass Digitization Team’s goal is to provide: